Friday, July 31, 2015

Over at the Legendary Book Club of Habitica, we've just finished some amazing discussions on The Complete Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi. If you missed my review, you should check it out. Next, we'll be reading Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, by Edward Albee. If you're interested in reading along with us and participating in discussion, make sure to join HabitRPG and check out the guild "The Legendary Book Club of Habitica."

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Skiffy, especially self-aware skiffy, is one of my favorite genres, and John Scalzi does it well with Agent to the Stars. Unfortunately, there's a point where the humor's charm wears off. Up until then, it's a fantastic book. It's the last bit that drags it down.

I'm of two minds about Half-Blood Prince. There were some parts in it that were rather well done, and other parts that made me roll my eyes. It's just so frustrating to read a book and go, "Ugh, it was so close to being good!"

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

I didn't think I knew what I was looking for in a fantasy book, but apparently this is it. Susanna Clark manages to write a story that doesn't rely on superfluous action, has interesting characters with real struggles and flaws, and worldbuilds without overwhelming the reader. Yes, Jonathon Strange & Mr Norrell is long, but it doesn't feel like it goes on too long. In fact, I was rather sad to depart from its world.

Harry Harrison making fun of politics? Yes, please! The hijinks in this Stainless Steel Rat book poke at the way democracies end up not being so democratic. He probably could have used a less stereotypical backdrop than Space Latin America to show off his "democratic" dictator plot, but because the setting isn't the joke, it works better than the issues in the last book.

So, here's the thing. These books are better than I'd expect them to be (considering the Shannara books) but really aren't great. And they keep declining in goodness. The first was better than the second was better than the third. Probably because the protag can't learn.

I don't remember liking this one that much. I do remember being oh-so-sad about Sirius' death. This time, I was just like, "Oh, you dropped a bridge on Sirius to try and make us feel bad. That's poor writing." Most of the plot is that Harry is a stupid git (I know he's a teenager, but come on...) or that Umbridge is oh-so-evil. Consider 870 pages of this, and I'm just left bland.

Friday, July 24, 2015

I definitely read Fables at some point in the past because I totally remembered this plot. It wasn't as good as the first book, to be entirely honest, but the art is better in some ways. And I do love Goldilocks in it. Spoilers later on.

Thursday, July 23, 2015

With Timeless, the Parasol Protectorate books come to an end. (It is not, however, and end to the world...) Unfortunately, I think it kind of overstayed its welcome. The series went good, better, better, good, and now just okay. Maybe it's that I'm not a big fan of neatly wrapped up Happily Ever After endings. Or pretty much any of the last third of the book. Spoilers in the review.

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

This month, my bookclub on HabitRPG (soon to be remaned Habitica) voted on reading Persepolis. If you want to check out our further discussion on it, join Habit, check out the guild "Legendary Bookclub of Habitica" and you'll find a link to our Goodreads group. Anyway, now that that's covered, my review:

Persepolis was almost everything I ever wanted from it. And it would have been, if it had only quit whilst ahead. Instead, there was a point where it lost its footing for a bit. While that's sometimes not enough to knock off a star, in this case it was... partially because of how strong the book is at the start.

I'm really sad. I remember sitting down and reading Goblet of Fire on our kitchen table. I remember liking it so much. Being so excited.

And missing all of the really gross racism. Now, as I pointed out, The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You! had some racism problems, but not to this extent. And what makes it sadder is that without that subplot, Goblet of Fire would have been fine... and quite a good book that didn't make me feel gross.

Sunday, July 19, 2015

No, you're not going to see me rip apart this book. This one wasn't entirely awful; I just didn't like it. Trite is a good word for it. Uninspired. Thrown together using a random plot generator as necessary. Okay, maybe I'm in denial. It was pretty bad.

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Confession time: I have (had) never seen or read Fight Club. The only problem with reading it now, though, is that it's so heavily saturated into pop culture that it kind of destroys the book's charm. I feel like it would have been a lot better if I'd gone in without knowing some things I already did. As it was, it felt very much like Catcher in the Rye 2.0. Spoilers in the review that probably aren't spoilers for anyone.

I remember as a kid thinking that Prisoner of Azkaban was much better than Chamber of Secrets. Of course, that's really not saying much, as I didn't like it as much. In my other re-reads of the series, I felt like this was a turning point for J.K. Rowling, where she really started to get a handle on her writing. This re-read, I felt that way as well.

Thursday, July 16, 2015

I'm not really the type to feel sorry for an abuser, especially an abuser who's just a fucking shitty person in general. So when a book is clearly showing him in a sympathetic light, I'm going to be annoyed as fuck. On top of that, the science in it is just inconsistent and awful, which might be fine if it wasn't justified in the last 10% of the book.

To put it in a simpler way: I was literally allergic to this book and misplaced it three times. I think my subconscious really, really wanted me to stop reading it. Spoilers for the ending after the cut.

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

The Casual Vacancy suffers from some of the same problems Deathly Hallows did, which isn't surprising, all things considered. I also felt at times like J.K. Rowling was trying to pull at my heartstrings with obvious manipulation, rather than actually writing something heart-wrenching. All of that considered, though, it was an interesting take on small-town politics (literal and not), class warfare, and coming of age in screwed up families.

I only had one minor quibble with Volume 4: not enough lying cat. But oh, oh, oh, when she showed up... Volume 4 is a bit of a time skip. We get to see Hazel as a toddler and Sophie as a kick-ass 8-year-old. The time skip felt like the right thing to do for the plot at this point. Oh, and Volume 4 made me literally cry.

Monday, July 13, 2015

I'm not entirely sure what turned me off of Signal to Noise. Maybe it was the fact that it was a couple of artists waxing on about how important art is to artists. (Yes, I know how factual this drive is personally, but it's such a tired subject for art.) Or maybe it was the fact that the art style really didn't add anything to the story for me. If anything, it pushed me away. I don't know. It felt pretentious.

You know what I love? Volume 1: three stars. Volume 2: four stars. Volume 3: five stars. Saga started off a little shaky but good, then decided to up and run with it, getting better by the second. I actually love the protagonists now, and the side characters? They've come even further. Volume 3 managed to hit my heartstrings harder than any other so far.

Friday, July 10, 2015

That moment when you're reading a non-fiction science book and you realize the author isn't a scientist. Lemme put it this way: the first moment you make a glaring error in a non-fiction book, I'm going to start giving it more scrutiny. The second? I'm upset.

Thursday, July 9, 2015

That's right. I'm going to be reviewing a bit more non-specfic coming up. There's yet another challenge on HabitRPG. This one is in one of my favorite guilds not related to books: the Short-Term Goal Accountability guild. Basically, it's a group of people working to keep each other accountable.

This challenge is to read a book a week, and I went, huh, I can't join that. I'd be cheating! But then one of my biggest book-enablers came up with the idea of making it harder. Harder for me? I'm going to be reading a book that's not specfic every week.

Look forward to other things. I'm not sure what other things. But I'm starting with Fight Club. It totally counts.

Usually I love ripping apart the books I hate. But no, I've been avoiding writing this review. Why? This is the most sexist fantasy book I've ever read. That's saying something. Merely thinking about this book makes my skin crawl. Below the cut, you'll hear more, there will be spoilers, there will be a lot of gross talk about rape culture, and a shitton of sexism will be unveiled.

I loved Terry Brooks as a teenager. I ate up the Shannara books. Thank god I haven't re-read them and can remember enough to realize how awful they are. However, there were a couple other Terry Brooks series I read (...there are only two other rather short series Terry Brooks wrote. Shannara = cash cow). I thought this one might have been better, from what I recalled. And it's true! It was. But not a lot better.

I remember reading this shortly after it came out under a tree in a park in Denver, Colorado. Our teacher had just read the first to us in school, and I devoured this one almost in one sitting. But I also remember being slightly disappointed with it. And going forward, I remember it being one of my least favorites. Welp, yes. It certainly is not that great in comparison.

Monday, July 6, 2015

I really don't have that much to say about Exit Wounds. I really didn't find it that impactful. And it's not that Israel is too far away; I've read plenty of Israeli stories that hit me really hard. It's just kind of meh.

If you've read any of my other Stainless Steel Rat reviews, you'll know the drill: this is larger-than-life, over-the-top pure skiffy goodness that's a self-aware parody of Golden Age Science Fiction. Needless to say, though, they have their problems. This one is one of the more problematic books in the series due to the way it's handled, however, it didn't ruin the enjoyment... at least for me.

Saturday, July 4, 2015

I really do love fairy tale books, but only if they're well done. The modern adaptation needs to add to the story, while still holding onto what makes a fairy tale a fairy tale. Catherynne M. Valente managed to do that and more, creating a rich and complex book that stayed true to its roots.

The Blogger

A life-long avid reader, especially of speculative fiction, Ryan usually has a book lying around somewhere. The child of an English PhD, he also has strong opinions scattered about. As his physical disability made it more and more difficult to partake in other forms of leisure, his childhood predilection for prose once again began to consume his life.